The first of March, yesterday, is a national holiday in South Korea,
which is called Samiljeol (삼일절) or Korean
Independence Movement Day, in honor of Samil Undong (삼일운동)1 or the March First Movement of 1919. It was the day over 2 million Koreans
stood up against Japan and its encroachments.
It is also called Samil Independence
Movement or Samil Manse Undong or
just Manse Undong (만세운동, 萬歲運動).2

Among those (approx.) two million twenty thousand Korean protesters, 7,509 people were
killed and about sixteen thousand were wounded by the Japanese force during the protest. Most of the arrestees were imprisoned in Seodaemun Prison3 without
trial. Therein, they suffered grave
injury, torture, ill-treatment, and even execution.

1. Some of the Korean national
holidays or historic events/days are customarily named in reference to the
dates of their occurrence. For example,
Independence
Movement is called Samil Undong, in
which sam means “three” (i.e.
March), il “one,” and undong “movement or protest,” hence
the name literally translates to “Three-One Movement” in reference to March
1, 1919, when the nationwide civil uprising against Japan happened. Other examples are as follows:

2.
The word manse literally
means “ten thousand years of life” or “live forever,” thus is usually used in
hailing or wishing a long life for someone or in cheering just like English “hurray.” Samil Undong is also called Samil
Manse Undong or Manse Undong because all the Koreans in protest marched hailing Manse meaning “Long live (Korea)!”

3.Seodaemun Prison still stands today as a constant reminder of what
Japan had done to Korea. It is open to tourists or visitors. (I found a website where you can see the pictures of the prison.)

Yesterday, to honor and commemorate all those Samiljeol
protesters and victims, Seo Kyoungdeok or Seo Kyeong-duk (서경덕), Dokdo islets
advocate and professor at Sungshin Women’s University in Korea, and Gmarket, one
of Korea’s leading online auction and retail companies, put out a full-page ad in
the New York Times. Seo has been taking
out ads on world’s famous newspapers, mostly in association with Kim Janghun or
Kim Janghoon (김장훈), singer, philanthropist,
and Dokdo islets advocate, to
proclaim Korea's inalienable sovereignty of the islets. Just like last year when they took out an ad
on the Wall Street Journal-Europe, they made the politically savvy move this
time as well by failing to shout “Dokdo
is Korean Territory!” Instead, Seo et al
have tried to reach the world through sports, tourism, culture, and so on.

It is quite meaningful and noteworthy that such an ad was put out on Samiljeol,
the first of March, 2012, when Japan is still trying to encroach into Korean
islets, Dokdo. (Click for more information about Dokdo: Dokdo Research Institute)